JP2011242432A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly restore an image formation device in a field when having problems such as damage in a rotation drive source and power transmission means for transmitting power to a rotation member constituting image formation means of the image formation device.SOLUTION: An image formation device comprises a body frame 11 for directly or indirectly supporting all of more than one rotation member so that they are rotatable, and a drive unit 31. The drive unit 31 includes a frame assembled integrally with all of more than one rotation drive source 41, 42 for rotating all of more than one rotation member, and all of more than one power transmission means 43 for transmitting power of all of the more than one rotation drive source 41, 42 to all of the more than one rotation member. The drive unit 31 is removable with respect to the body frame 11.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that transmits power from one or more rotational driving sources to one or more rotating members via one or more power transmission units.

  An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a paper transport unit that feeds and transports recording paper from a paper feeding unit to a paper discharge unit through a recording paper transport path, and a toner image on the recording paper transported on the recording paper transport path. Image forming means for forming and fixing the toner image on the recording paper as a permanent image. The paper conveying means has rotating members such as paper feed rollers, registration rollers, and paper discharge rollers, and the image forming means has rotating members such as photosensitive drums, developing rollers, transfer rollers, heat rollers, and press rollers. Power is transmitted via a power transmission means such as a gear train from a rotational drive source such as a motor attached to the rear side of the apparatus.

  In the existing technology, a motor or gear train is directly attached to a metal or resin body frame that directly or indirectly supports the rotating member. The gears and motors have to be removed one by one from the main body frame, and the restoration operation of the image forming apparatus cannot be completed promptly. In the meantime, the user of the image forming apparatus was disadvantaged because he could not print or copy.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an existing technique in which a gear as a power transmission means is attached to a frame so that the gear can be detached from the apparatus main body together with the frame. Even with this existing technology, the field engineer of the image forming apparatus is forced to remove the motor connected to the gear separately from the frame, and further improvements are made in terms of promptly completing the restoration work of the image forming apparatus. There was room for.

JP 2008-46549 A

  Therefore, according to the present invention, when a problem such as breakage occurs in the rotational drive source and the power transmission means for transmitting power to the rotating member constituting the image forming means of the image forming apparatus, the present invention can quickly recover in the field. It is an object.

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms a toner image on a recording sheet that is fed and conveyed, and the image forming unit includes one or more rotating members. In the preferred embodiment, the image forming apparatus includes a main body frame that supports all of the one or more rotating members directly or indirectly so as to be rotatable, and a drive unit. The drive unit is configured such that one or more rotary drive sources for rotating all of the one or more rotary members to the frame and power of one or more rotary drive sources for all of the one or more rotary members are provided. All of the one or more power transmission means for transmitting are integrally assembled, and the drive unit can be detached from the main body frame. Further, it is preferable that the rotational drive source is a motor, and the entire power transmission means is composed of only gears.

  According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention described above, all of the rotational drive source such as a motor and all of the power transmission means such as a gear train are integrally assembled as a drive unit in the frame. Even if a failure to replace one of the power source and the power transmission means occurs, the field engineer of the image forming apparatus removes the defective drive unit from the main body frame and attaches the defective drive unit to the main body frame. With this simple operation, the image forming apparatus can be quickly restored.

  In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the image forming means includes a heat fixing means for applying heat to the recording paper and the toner image to melt and fix the toner image on the recording paper, and discharges unnecessary heat from the heat fixing means to the outside of the apparatus. Exhaust heat means for heating is attached to the frame of the drive unit. The exhaust heat means is preferably an exhaust fan.

  According to the further preferable aspect of the present invention described above, since the exhaust heat means such as the exhaust fan is also attached to the frame of the drive unit, even if there is a problem to be replaced with the exhaust heat means, the field engineer of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus can be quickly restored by a simple operation of simply removing the defective drive unit from the main body frame and attaching the defective drive unit to the main body frame.

  Even if a problem occurs in the drive system of the image forming apparatus, the field engineer of the image forming apparatus can promptly restore it at the customer site.

1 is a rear perspective view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a cross-sectional front view schematically illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The present invention will be described as a plurality of preferred embodiments with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, but the technical scope of the present invention should be defined by the description of the scope of claims. The description should not be construed as limiting.

  FIG. 2 is a front sectional view schematically showing the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, a multifunction device 1 having printing, FAX transmission / reception, reading, and copying functions, which is one of image forming apparatuses, is disposed at an upper portion thereof and an original reading means 3 disposed at an upper portion thereof. The image forming means 4 and the paper feeding means 6 arranged at the lowermost part are configured.

  The document reading unit 3 transports a document placed on a document tray 52 provided on a document cover 51 by an automatic document feeder (ADF) 50, and discharges the document via a reading position where a platen glass 58 is disposed. The paper is discharged to the paper tray 53. At the reading position, a scanner unit 56 equipped with a reading device 55 for optically reading the conveyed document is disposed so as to face the document. When reading a book or the like, the document cover 51 is rotated upward to place a read portion of the book or the like on the flat bed platen 54, and the scanner unit 56 is moved to the left or right with arrows to perform the reading operation. Is called.

  The paper feed means 6 is provided with a paper feed cassette 61, and a plurality of recording papers 60 of a predetermined size are stacked on a flapper 62. A paper feed roller 65 is disposed at the right end of the paper feed cassette 61 in the drawing. The flapper 62 is urged upward by a spring member (not shown) so that the upper surface of the stacked recording paper 60 is pressed against the paper feed roller 65. When the paper feed roller 65 is driven to rotate in this state, the recording paper 60 is fed to the recording paper transport path one by one by the paper feed roller 65 and a separation pad (not shown). The fed paper 60 is first conveyed to the recording unit 4 by a feed roller 70 and a press roller 71 that is driven to rotate.

  In order to record a toner image on the conveyed recording paper 60, the image forming unit 4 includes a developing unit 5 having a developing roller 25, a paper dust removing roller 73, a corona charger 74, a photosensitive drum 75, and a transfer roller. 76, an exposure head (not shown) and a heat roller 78 are provided. The developing unit 5 contains toner in its housing, and includes two agitators 97 and 98 for stirring and conveying the toner in the housing, and a supply roller 96 for supplying toner to the developing roller 25. ing.

  The paper dust removing roller 73 captures and removes toner and paper dust adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum 75 after transfer. The corona charger 74 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 75 by the discharge from the corotron. An electrostatic latent image is formed by exposing the photosensitive drum 75 uniformly charged by the corona charger 74 with an exposure head (not shown). Then, the charged toner in the developing unit 5 is transferred to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 75, and the electrostatic latent image is visualized. The transfer roller 76 is installed at a position facing the photosensitive drum 75 with the paper 60 interposed therebetween. When a predetermined voltage is applied, a toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 75 is transferred to the recording paper 60. Is transcribed. The transferred toner image is heated and pressed while being sandwiched between the heat roller 78 and the press roller 79 and fixed on the recording paper 60. The fixed recording paper 60 is nipped between the paper discharge roller 80 and the press roller 81 and is carried out to the recording paper discharge tray 82.

  Paper feed roller 60, feed roller 70, paper discharge roller 80, developing roller 25, supply roller 96, two agitators 97, 98, photosensitive drum 75, transfer roller 76, paper dust removing roller 73, and heat roller 78 are: It is a rotating member that rotates positively when power is transmitted from a drive source, and is directly or indirectly supported by the main body frame 11 as a unit member.

  FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective view of the multifunction machine 1 with the rear exterior cover removed as viewed from the rear side, and shows a state in which the drive unit 31 is removed from the main body frame 11. The main body frame 11 is a plate-like member and is provided on the back side of the multifunction machine 1. Two perforations are formed in the main body frame 11, and couplings 12 and 13 for transmitting rotational power to one of the rotating members protrude from the perforations to the back side.

  The drive unit 31 is provided with two motors 41 and 42 as drive sources, and the rotational power from each motor 41 and 42 is transmitted to one of the couplings 12 and 13, and is transmitted to the couplings 12 and 13. Rotational power is transmitted to one of the rotating members via a drive transmission means (not shown) on the front side of the main body frame 11. The main body frame 11 is also formed with a notch 82 for dissipating unnecessary waste heat from the heat roller 78 to the outside of the apparatus.

  The drive unit 31 has a frame composed of a metal plate having excellent rigidity, and is connected to the two drive units (not shown) that are engaged with all (two in this embodiment) motors 41 and 42 and the couplings 12 and 13. The coupling, the entire gear train 43 (two in this embodiment), and the exhaust fan 85 are integrally assembled, and the periphery thereof is covered with a frame made of a rigid resin. The motors 41 and 42 are driving sources for all the rotating members except for the rotating members arranged in the document reading means 3, and the motor shafts of the motors 41 and 42 and the shafts of the drive unit side couplings are respectively connected to each other. It connects so that rotational power can be transmitted via a gear train.

  Since the drive unit 31 configured as described above can be attached to and detached from the main body frame 11, all the motors 41 and 42, all the gear trains 43 and the exhaust fan 85 are attached to the main body frame 11 with the removal of the drive unit 31. Are integrally removed. For this reason, in the drive unit 31, even if a failure to be exchanged with one of the gears of the motors 41 and 42 and the gear train 43 or the exhaust fan 85 occurs, the field engineer must individually replace the parts at the customer. The multifunction device 1 can be quickly recovered by a simple operation of simply removing the defective drive unit 31 from the main body frame 11 and attaching the defective drive unit 31 to the main body frame 11 without having to remove it.

4 Image forming means 11 Body frame 31 Drive unit 41, 42 Motor 43 Gear train 85 Exhaust fan

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms a toner image on a recording sheet to be fed and conveyed, the image forming unit including one or more rotating members,
A body frame that rotatably supports all of the one or more rotating members directly or indirectly;
All of one or more rotary drive sources for rotating all of the one or more rotary members, and for transmitting power of the one or more rotary drive sources to all of the one or more rotary members. A drive source unit in which all of the one or more power transmission means are integrally assembled with the frame, and
The image forming apparatus, wherein the drive source unit is detachable from the main body frame.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotational drive source is a motor, and the power transmission unit is entirely composed of gears. The image forming unit includes a heat fixing unit that applies heat to the recording paper and the toner image to melt and fix the toner image on the recording paper.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an exhaust heat unit for exhausting unnecessary heat from the heat fixing unit to the outside of the apparatus is attached to a frame of the drive source unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the heat exhausting unit is an exhaust fan.

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